Bags having wire closures are currently used to obtain industrial and chemical material samples in a sterile manner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,131 describes a collection bag having metal wires. Strips of pressure sensitive tape are used to attach the metal wires to opposite side of the bag. Both the metal strips and the tape extend beyond the width of the bag. During use, the bag is filled, the opening is rolled closed, and the metal wires are folded back to clamp the rolled end. This arrangement has a number of disadvantages. Particularly, it is difficult to open and the clamped metal wire ends tend to puncture the bag during transport.
Later inventions have been made to help improve the ease at which the bag may be opened. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,189,253; 4,356,954; and 5,180,229 each use a center pull tab. While effective, such tabs are often more difficult to manufacture. Later inventions have also attempted to reduce puncturing during transport. U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,954 uses downwardly-directed strip ends. U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,229 encloses the wire ends with an additional length of covering material. As with the pull tabs, these arrangements are more difficult and more costly to manufacture.
Thus, a need yet exists for a sterile collection bag that avoids the problems of the prior art sterile collection bags. Ideally, such a bag would be easy to open and easy to manufacture. In addition, the components of such a bag would not cause punctures to the bag body during transport. The present invention is directed to fulfilling these needs and others as described below.